Maná

As Mexico’s most successful rock group of the past generation, Maná has sometimes been described as a Latin version of such mainstream American rock acts as Styx or REO Speedwagon. Yet the group has consistently explored new musical terrain, featuring reggae- and calypso-style tunes on some releases in addition to its cache of rock songs and romantic ballads. In 2000, over a decade after its first release, the group had its best year ever, receiving the Spirit of Hope Award from Billboard magazine and netting three awards at the first annual Latin Grammy Awards. Outside the studio, Maná also sponsors the Selva Negra (Black Forest) philanthropic foundation whose work includes efforts to save endangered animal life (such as sea turtles and the Mexican wolf) and reforest areas stripped by logging and farming throughout Central and South America.

Maná’s roots go back almost a quarter century to Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. Although Mexico City, about 340 miles to the southeast, was the unquestioned cultural and political capital of the nation, in the late 1970s a vibrant underground rock scene began to develop in Guadalajara. One group to emerge from this culture was Green Hat, formed by singer

Members include Juan Calleros (born Juan Diego Calleros in Mexico), bass; Fher (born Fernando Olvera in Mexico), vocals; Alex González (born Alejandro González), drums; Sergio Vallin (born in Mexico), guitar.

Group formed in Guadalajara, Mexico, under the name Green Hat, late 1970s; made major-label debut as Maná with Falta amor, 1989; released another ten albums, including ¿Dónde jugárdn los niños ?, Cuando los angeles lloran, Sueños liquidos, and MTV Unplugged, 1992-2001.

Awards: Latin Grammy Award, Record of the Year for Corazón espinado, 2000; Latin Grammy Award, Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Se me olvidó otra vez,” 2000; Billboard Spirit of Hope Award, 2000.

Fernando Olvera (nicknamed Fher), bassist Juan Diego Calleros, and guitarist Ulises Calleros. The rock group signed a recording deal and released two albums, Sombrero Verde in 1981 and A Ritmo de Rock in 1983. Unfortunately, sales were disappointing, and Green Hat became defunct shortly thereafter.

Fher and the Calleros brothers decided to restart their careers with a new lineup in 1985. Alejandro González joined the new group, named Maná, as its drummer. It took another two years of touring small clubs, however, before the band attracted interest from a record label. Eventually, they signed with Warner Music Mexico and set to work on their first release, Falta amor, which came out in 1989. At first the release looked like it would suffer the same fate as Green Hat’s two albums, with disappointing sales for almost two years, until a track from the record, “Rayando el sol,” kickstarted its sales. With a number of other hits on the record, Falta amor became a sleeper hit, and the release of a Maná follow-up was assured.

In contrast to the group’s debut, their 1992 release ¿Dónde jugarán los niños? was an instant success, selling over 1.5 million copies in Mexico alone, where a series of tracks hit the charts. To promote the release, Maná began an international tour. Their success in Spain, where the album sold over 90,000 copies, was particularly noteworthy, as few Mexican acts had achieved any degree of popularity in Europe up to that time. The band also started to make headway north of the Mexican border, where ¿Dónde jugarán los niños? stayed on Billboard’s Latin albums chart for a total of 97 weeks after its release; few other albums could match its longevity.

Personnel changes followed the band’s initial success. In 1992 Ulises Calleros became the band’s manager and was replaced by César López on guitar. A keyboardist, Iván González, also joined the lineup. They left after less than two years, however, and Maná performed for a brief period as a trio. During this time the group continued to tour extensively and recorded a live album, Maná en vivo, which was released in 1994. The following year, Sergio Vallin joined the group on guitar after a talent search that spanned South and Central America. It was this quartet—Fher, Juan Calleros, Alex González, and Sergio Vallin—that became most familiar to Maná’s fans.

Maná confirmed its status as a leading Latin pop-rock group in 1995 with a number of diverse projects. The group contributed the track “Celoso” to Francis Ford Coppola’s movie My Family, and later recorded a cover version of the classic Led Zepplin song “Fool in the Rain” for the tribute album Encomium. Its biggest release, however, was its third original album, Cuando los angeles lloran. Another hit throughout South and Central America, it also earned gold certification in the United States. Worldwide, the album sold over 1.5 million copies in the year after its initial release; it also received the band’s first Grammy Award nomination, for Best Latin Pop Performance.

The band’s success was not without its critics, however. In the early 1990s the rock en español movement dominated Mexico’s music scene with harder-edged, guitar-based sounds at a time when Maná was recording more melodic ballads. As the most commercially successful act in the country, the group was blamed for making Mexican rock music more mainstream. As radio deejay Jordi Soler told Billboard in a profile of Mexico’s music industry in November of 1994, “The record labels are grabbing the few rock acts they have and trying to integrate them into shows broadcast on Televisa [a major broadcasting network]…. What will happen is that Mexico’s rock artists will disappear into a medium that robs the identity of the most familiar acts.”

In 1995 the members of Maná drew upon their interests in social and environmental issues to form the philanthropic foundation Selva Negra (Black Forest). The group had already tackled such issues in their lyrics, but the foundation allowed them to fund the causes they supported more effectively, including reforestation efforts in Mexico, Columbia, and Chile. Selva Negra also solicited the support of Mexico’s government in efforts to save the sea turtle by raising 140,000 turtle eggs for release on the country’s Pacific coast. Maná also used their album releases and concert tours to promote environmental awareness. On one tour, the group gave out tree seedlings and encouraged people to plant them; it also donated the proceeds from T-shirt sales to an educational program and campaign to save the Mexican wolf. In April of 2000Billboard announced that Maná would receive its annual Spirit of Hope Award for its philanthropic work “as an environmentally concerned band willing to actively participate in projects that will improve ecological conditions in Mexico and Latin America.”

The 1997 release of Sueños liquidos marked another milestone for Maná as the album hit number one on the Billboard Latin Albums chart while debuting at number 67 on the Billboard 200. In light of the continuing criticism of the group as a lesser counterpart to harder-edged acts, the occasion caused John Lannert and Enor Paiano of the magazine to write in November of 1997, “Clearly, Maná’s mainstream sound and commercial achievements run counter to the underground sentiments of Spanish rock’s faithful. Plainly put, it just is not hip to like Maná.” The writers added, “Yet it is Maná’s very commercial success that can help grow the still-budding rock en español movement… Rock-directed acts such as Maná are the artists who can drive the Spanish rock train because its universal, middle-ground appeal, which transcends local rock tastes, is what will entice record labels to sign and develop like-minded artists.”

In 1999 the band recorded a special album for the MTV Unplugged series. One of the tracks, “Se me olvido otra vez,” subsequently earned the band an award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the first Latin Grammy Awards in 2000. That was not the only award bestowed upon Maná that night, however, as the group picked up two additional awards, including Record of the Year for its collaboration on “Corazón espinado” with Carlos Santana.

For its next original full-length album, the band expected to work with the guitarist again; as Alex González told Billboard in October of 2001, “Santana owes us [a] favor [for] ‘Corazón espinado.’ He’s already said he’s willing and able, and he’s definitely one person we’d like to have on the album.” In addition to preparing for the project, the band also continued its philanthropic efforts, including an appearance with Alanis Morissette, Pearl Jam, and R.E.M. to raise money for the United Nations’ hunger relief programs. “Our idea is to join these people and [let] them [know that] many of [their] neighbors are in the same situation.” González continued, “and if we can make this known and plan future concerts to raise money for these countries, we’ll have accomplished our mission.”

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With intimate, acoustic-framed love songs, Maná rose to become the most popular purveyor of rock-en-Español from the mid-1990s onward. Rock in Spanish has been around almost as long as rock in English, but it took much longer to bloom into an autonomous genre. In its early decades it often suffered from political repression and creative apathy, with many groups simply translating hits from English or aping British and American acts. But Maná helped rock-en-Español mature, fusing the primal rock beat with Latin percussion and poetic lyrical imagery. Their music took on a timeless quality thanks to simple arrangements and avoidance of synthesizer, and was easy for thousands of cover bands to disseminate in nooks and crannies all over Latin America.

The nucleus of the group was formed in 1984 as Sombrero Verde. Juan Calleros's brother Ulises managed the fledgling band and continued to do so for the next two decades. During a 1985 trip to Mexico City, Fher Olvera met Alex Gonzalez. Renaming itself Maná, the group released its self-titled debut in 1987. While Olvera's raspy tenor and Sergio Vallin's twangy guitar drew comparisons to the Police, Maná carved out a Latin identity with Gonzalez's Afro-Latin backbeats and Olvera's sentimental lyrics.

Their major-label debut, Falta Amor (1992), was solid, producing the hit "Rayando el Sol," a catchy, sing-along tune about unrequited love, a common Maná theme. Alex Lora, the leader of seminal Mexican rock band El Tri, co-wrote the title track with Olvera in a symbolic baton-passing, though few then imagined Maná would become as popular as El Tri had been.

It was the album Dónde Jugarán los Niños? (1993) that vaulted Maná to A-list status with hits "Oye Mi Amor," "Cómo Te Deseo," "Me Vale," "La Chula," and, most importantly, the group's signature ballad, "Vivir Sin Aire." The follow-up album, Cuando los Ángeles Lloran (1995), did not match their previous CD's success but it features the stately tear-jerker "El Reloj Cucú," dedicated to a father who died young and the family that misses him. Sueños Líquidos (1997) was a return to form, featuring the urgent "Clavado en un Bar" and the poetic ballad "Como Dueles en los Labios." It sold more than 1 million copies in the United States.

At the time Mexico's political climate was evolving. The country's "perfect dictatorship" was beginning to fray at the edges. In Guanajuato a charismatic opposition-party candidate named Vicente Fox had become governor. He was elected president of Mexico in 2000, becoming the first opposition-party candidate to win Mexico's presidency after seventy years of uninterrupted rule by the country's infamous institutional revolutionary party. As Mexicans sensed that the government's grip on media access was slipping, a new generation of hip-hop and punk-influenced rockers derided Maná's lyrically tame approach. In 1997 the rap-metal group Molotov sold 400,000 copies of its explicitly antigovernment debut album, Dónde Jugarán Las Niñas?, whose title parodied Maná's 1993 release.

Maná played it cool, choosing not to strike a punk pose at this late date. Instead they released an MTV Unplugged effort in 1999 that featured covers of regional Mexican classics like "Te Solté la Rienda" and "Se Me Olvidó Otra Vez." Fans were dismayed by reports in December 2000 that creative differences between González and Olvera had caused Maná to split. Fortunately, the principals set aside their differences and went on to reap a fruitful 2001 in Europe. "Muelle de San Blas," from Sueños Líquidos, became a surprise hit in Italy, and "Corazón Espinado," a Latin Grammy-winning duet with Carlos Santana on his Supernatural CD, gave Maná a foothold in Germany. Maná toured Germany, Italy, and Scandinavia in late 2001.

Revolución de Amor (2002), the band's first studio album in five years, debuted at an impressive number twenty-two on the Billboard 200 chart. The single "Ángel de Amor," a protective missive to an abused woman, shot to number six on Hot Latin Tracks. Another standout is "Mariposa Traicionera," a cantina-rock tune recorded Mexican bolero style, with two guitars, a requinto (small guitar) and a bass. Santana returned the favor from Supernatural by contributing some blazing licks to "Justicia, Tierra y Libertad."

By fusing rock with Latin elements, Maná made rock-en-Español socially acceptable among people worried about Anglo-American "cultural imperialism" and showed the way for many other musicians who were proud of their roots but could not resist the power of the backbeat.

Spot Light: Dónde Jugarán Los Niños?

The album Dónde Jugarán Los Niños? (1993) helped reignite the rock-en-Español movement with its fusion of folk, rock, and Latin elements. With songs that were informal enough for a hole-in-the-wall acoustic jam, Maná hit on a formula that had it playing to packed arenas by the following year. The up-tempo "Oye Mi Amor," which combined a Roy Orbison beat with a sensual Andean pan flute riff, captured relationship angst perfectly: "I could even give you my eyes / But you have another / a cold, boring guy," Fher Olvera laments. The percussive "Como Te Deseo," the most Afro-Latin track, pulses with the promise of seduction. Olvera gets about as rebellious as early 1990s mainstream Mexican standards allow on "Me Vale." In a defensive song aimed at anyone feeling henpecked, he roars, "Whatever anyone thinks of me / I don't care." But the album's massive hit was acoustic ballad "Vivir Sin Aire," better known by its haunting "como quisiera . . ." melodic riff. The musical version of candles and red wine, the romantic song tells a partner that life without her would be like trying to live without air or water. The album sold more than 1.2 million copies in the United States and many more in Mexico, making Maná the most popular and influential group in rock-en-Español.

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Mana

Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology
COPYRIGHT 2001 The Gale Group Inc.

Mana

A term indicating vital or magical force used widely throughout Polynesia. From his work in the South Pacific, R. H. Codrington observed: "The word is common, I believe, to the whole Pacific…. It is a power or influence, not physical, and in a way supernatural, but it shows itself in physical force, or in any kind of power or excellence which a man possesses. This Mana is not fixed in anything, and can be conveyed in almost anything; but spirits, whether disembodied souls or supernatural beings, have it and can impart it…. All Melanesian religion consists in getting this Mana for oneself, or getting it used for one's benefit."

The techniques of arousing and acquiring mana were extensively explored by Max Freedom Long (1890-1971) in his study of the kahunamagic in Hawaii and described in his books, notably The Secret Science Behind Miracles (1948). Long established the Huna Research Organization to conduct research and spread knowledge of mana and its basis in kahuna magic.

The concept of mana has been expressed in many cultures under different names. Among the Iroquois and Huron Indians, it is known as orenda. In his book Primitive Man (vol. 1 of A History of Experimental Spiritualism, 2 vols., 1931), Caesar de Vesme wrote:

"We are in a fair way to recognize that we find (approximately) Mana in the Brahman and Akasha of the Hindus, the Living Fire of Zoroaster, the Generative Fire of Heraclitus, the Ruach of the Jews, the Telesma of Hermest Trismegistus, the Ignis subtilissimus of Hippocrates, the Pneuma of Gallien, the Soul of the World of Plato and Giordano Bruno, the Mens agitat molem which Vergil drew from the Pythagorean philosophy, the Astral light of the Kabbalists, the Azoth of the alchemists, the Magnale of Paracelsus, the Alcahest of Van Helmont, the pantheistic Substance of Apinoza, the Subtle Matter of Descartes, the Animal magnetism of Mesmer, the Will of Schopenhauer, the Od of Reichenbach and Du Prel, the Unconscious of Hartmann, the Entelechy of Driesch, the Plastic Mediator of Éliphas Lévi, the Psychode and Ectenic Force of Thury, the Force X and the Cryptesthesia of Richet, the Metether of F. W. H. Myers, the Spiritus of Robert Fludd, the Spiritus subtilissimus of Newton, the Spiritus Vitae of St. Thomas Aquinas, and many more Spiritus besides, if it were permissible to touch upon the different theologies."

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